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Topic: A funny thing happened to me on my way to the forum. (Read 2133 times)

This morning out of the blue I decided to stop at Walmart on my way to work. As I was rummaging through the shelves amd mumbling something about peg warming Vaders being a damn shame, a woman walked up to me. She had an unopened box of SW figs in her hand, and introduced herself as a Hasbro rep.Asking what type of collector I was and what particular figures I was looking for.

When I told her I was a customiser, she looked at me like I had 2 heads. After explaining to her what it is a customiser does, she seemed intrigued. She had never heard of such a thing. She then asked me what it is a customiser actually looks for in toys. I really didn't have an answer for this question.

I basicly told her what I would want. Namely a VOTC style Jango, and some EU characters ( of which she had also never heard of ) She actually seemed interested in what I had to say. I gave her some info namely the JD web addressand my handle, and dropped a few names ( Chewie, Phruby, Glassman, etc.) and she said that she would definately be looking into this. SHe also hinted that she would be takling to her boss about this. We talked for so long, that I was actually a couple of minutes late for work.

I don't beleive that anything will actually come of this, but it is something nice to think about. Can you just imagine how cool it would be for us if Hasbro actually made a line of figures with us in mind.

If we get a VOTC style Jango, everyone thank Ennis . Nice, how lucky you are to get to talk to a Hasbro rep, I've never had this happen to me, I wonder about anybody else. It would be great if Hasbro actually looked at this site and(SHOCK!)gave us more of what we want in figures . And yeah, a subline for customizers would be sweet.

A Rykrof figure would be right up Hasbro's alley. They already have the head. They could recycle the body too. Maybe we need somekind of Hasbro petition or nominate him on one of Hasbro's stupid polls.

What a neat encounter, Ennis! It's great that she took an interest the way she did, even if her company ends up not being able to do anything about it. It would be interesting to see her post here, if she chose to do so. Could mean some good press for our forums.

I've never had this experience before. In fact, I hardly ever see anyone else in the SW aisle when I'm toy shopping. Once or twice, maybe, but I've yet to have an actual conversation with them.

I've run into Hasbro Reps a couple of times. They never seemed to have any interest in the Star Wars products they were selling and knew little about the line. They could not even tell me what figures were in the latest assortments that were shipping. If I was so uninformed about my job I certainly would not have it for long. I am so amazed at how little feedback the collecting community gets from Hasbro. You would think in the information age that we live in, Hasbro Design and Marketing represenatives would be swarming these sites, comming up with great new product for us to buy. Has anyone ever seen a Hasbro Employee post on a Star Wars Collecting Site?

I've run into Hasbro Reps a couple of times. They never seemed to have any interest in the Star Wars products they were selling and knew little about the line. They could not even tell me what figures were in the latest assortments that were shipping. If I was so uninformed about my job I certainly would not have it for long. I am so amazed at how little feedback the collecting community gets from Hasbro. You would think in the information age that we live in, Hasbro Design and Marketing represenatives would be swarming these sites, comming up with great new product for us to buy. Has anyone ever seen a Hasbro Employee post on a Star Wars Collecting Site?

That would be the smart thing to do and you think the obvious way to get what the collector want and their money. Really in most cases I don't think Hasbro gives a hoot, but I think there would be at least one Hasbro R&D person reading posts, or I'm I giving Hasbro too much cedit?

Chewie, Love that idea, I would buy one or two .

roron corobb

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I'm one of the most well-regarded Ithorian Jedi Masters, having trained as Yarael Poof's Padawan. Roron Corobbmy feedback link

Take a look at the ROTS and Saga2 Collection and tell me Hasbro doesn't know at least some people like to customize.

1. Removable bandoliers (more expensive than molded on parts.2. Ball-joint heads (better for play value, but also lends itself to the ultimate in easy head-swaps).3. Hands and feet that can be swapped among some figures (easier than ever to vary up your armies).

I know there are other reasons to make these improvements, but when you see military figures hitting the market with extrea arms, hands, heads, coats, helmets, etc., you have to believe Hasbro sees that.

As for the rep, that's a great story. For the record, when I worked at TRU we had a rep come through a couple of times. She had to prepare a report on ALL Hasbro product in our store, which was obviously a heck of a lot more stuff than Star Wars. Remember that these people aren't Hasbro-Star Wars reps. For the most part they are retail overseers who only care about what's not selling right this minute.

When I worked at TRU it was during the famous Han Hoth/Luke Dagobah glut, and our rep came through and filled a cart with those guys and left. She wasn't there to give us what DID sell, she was identifying what was failing. I know it seems like the same thing, but it's very different.